According to tweetsfromaffiliatedAnonymousaccounts, as well as the text written on the defaced sites, the attacks were related to Occupy Wall Street and the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). At press time, all three sites were still down.

On business.ftc.gov, Anonymous wrote they were targeting the Federal Trade Commission because of its support of the controversial international legislation known as ACTA. Many critics, including Anonymous, say ACTA is worse than the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), the Internet censorship act that was shelved by Congress last month after mass digital protests.

“If ACTA is signed by all participating negotiating countries, you can rest assured that Antisec will bring a fucking mega-uber-awesome war that rain torrential hellfire down on all enemies of free speech, privacy and internet freedom. We will systematically knock all evil corporations and governments off of our internet.

“There is no doubt that ACTA is more dangerous and detrimental to our rights than
SOPA. ACTA will further spread the contagion of stricter copyright enforcement
worldwide, at the expense of our essential liberties and basic freedoms of
speech, expression and privacy.”

The text on the defaced sites also stated Anonymous had FTC employees’ personal contact information, including bank accounts, and had been rooting through their emails, which they would be releasing soon. A text-to-speech video with the same rhetoric on the defaced site was also uploaded to YouTube.

A German comedy skit, with subtitles, was also placed on the defaced website. The less than two minute video features a young man trying to send a picture to his mother, before ACTA agents bust into his apartment, SWAT-style, and shoot him up. The skit, uploaded by YouTuber HuckBro, includes multiple references to film-maker Quentin Tarantino’s work.